The Constitution in Congress: Democrats and Whigs, 1829-1861

Abstract

This acclaimed series, which has been called a biography of the U.S. Constitution, continues its examination of the role that the legislative and executive branches have played in the development of constitutional interpretation. While legal scholars typically look to the courts for guidance in deciphering the Constitution, The Constitution in Congress offers an indispensable survey of the congressional history behind the development of the Constitution. This third volume in David P. Currie's series, the early installments of which dealt with the Federalist period and the Jeffersonian era, now turns to the Jacksonian revolution of 1829 and the subsequent efforts by Democrats to dismantle Henry Clay's celebrated American System of nationalist economics. Currie covers the political events of the period leading up to the start of the Civil War, showing how the slavery question, although seldom overtly discussed in the debates included in this volume, underlay the Southern insistence on strict interpretation of federal powers. Like its predecessors, The Constitution in Congress: Democrats and Whigs, 1829-1861 will be an invaluable reference for legal scholars and constitutional historians alike.